With the dramatic rise in wireless communication usage among the consuming public, wireless communication providers have become increasingly competitive on both price and quality of service. A primary technique used by wireless providers to gage the quality of their wireless networks is to send vehicles into the field with signal testing devices to gather signal performance data. In many cases, the data gathering process is initiated in response to customer complaints. This technique however, has several disadvantages. First, waiting for customer complaints before initiating data gathering does not instill customer confidence in a wireless provider's service. Second, customers may simply change service providers rather than promptly reporting a dropped call or inadequate service quality.
Furthermore, monitoring a wireless communication network can be very expensive. Typically, a wireless provider will dispatch captive vehicles equipped with signal testing devices for the sole purpose of gathering signal data in a geographic region. A description of the type of signal testing device that can be used to gather the signal data is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,991,622 to Henry, Jr. To monitor signal coverage for a wireless network, a major capital investment is required for the vehicles and the testing equipment. The wireless provider will also incur the ongoing maintenance and labor expenses for operating the vehicles. Due to this high cost, wireless providers may be forced to forego routine testing of their communication networks and rely on customer complaints to target the testing.
Therefore, an unsatisfied need exists for improved systems and methods for gathering wireless communication data that overcome the deficiencies in the prior art, some of which are discussed above.